Happy 4th of July

Hey Sweetie....What do Divas love more than anything?  Having all our family together under one roof and getting a family picture.  Didn't everyone do a great job in their silly glasses and beads?  Thank you for coming all the way from Canada.  We miss you so much and are always glad when we get our special "Emma Time".

When it starts to get dark, Uncle Tim sets off fireworks in the back yard.  Baby Lyra didn't like the loud noises and it made her cry.  You and the boys like the sparklers and helping to set the fireworks off. Diva is like Lyra, in that I love the pretty sparkly effects, but not the loud explosions.

I had to laugh at your funny faces in this picture.  What fun to have everyone together again!  The glasses light up when it gets dark.

Your Momma started a new Bennetch family tradition and taught us how to make "Auntie Anne's famous pretzels"  I love seeing your Momma and Auntie Suzy laughing together like they did as little girls.  Your Momma still knows how to flip a pretzel to make the "x" in the middle.  The boys like making  pretzels too.  They especially like to eat them.

Charlie was really pleased at his finished pretzel.  What really made me laugh was Henry's funny face.  I think we have a new 4th of July family tradition.

Happy Canada Day

Dearest Emma,

          Today you got to teach Charlie and Oscar about Canada Day.  Tomorrow we will celebrate the 4th of July (or Independence Day) here in Tennessee with Auntie Suzy, Auntie Rachel, Uncle Tim and Uncle Andy as well as your cousins Oscar, Charlie, Henry, and baby Lyra.  Poppa and Diva are so happy to have all our family together again.  Your Tennessee cousins are so excited that you are here and have planned some really fun adventures for you. 

Diva and Poppa love our Canadians!

Lyra's first Birthday

Dear Emma Bug.  

What fun we had at Lyra's first birthday.  Auntie Suzy had the porch all decorated in red, white, and blue for our "littlest firecracker".  Your Momma bought Lyra the sparkly big bow. You and cousins helped decorate the high chair.  Lyra had a smash cake so she was dressed in a diaper for a quick clean up after the pictures.

  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Everyone wore party hats to celebrate the big event.  You made and decorated cupcakes with the boys.  Lyra wasn't exactly sure what she should do with the cake so of course

her Daddy (Uncle Andy) thought he would help her out.

Poppa and Diva made her a treasure box with her name on it.  You gave her some board books on dogs, and Auntie Suzy made her a special book with her pictures in it.  I'm sure Lyra won't remember her special day but I will never forget it.  Thank you for helping make Lyra's first birthday special.  

I love you sweet girl.

Your Diva and Poppa

Our little Secret

Tickets secured

Dearest Emma..


This is what your Diva looked like when your Momma let us know she was able to get tickets for us  to come see you in May.  (This is Diva's version of a Happy Dance!)   We are glad to be able to help your mom and of course to meet your teacher, see your school and meet some of your friends.

 
What fun we will have while we are taking care of Momma.  Diva and Poppa will need a helper in the kitchen and your Momma tells me you are a great little chef.  We will have to cook up a storm in between playing games and taking you to your activities.   Would you believe that we will be with you in 41 days ( not that I'm counting but Yes I am counting and marking off the days.)

Poppa and I are bringing you a Parcheesi game like great grandmother's for you so you should be a champion by the end of our visit.  I"m pretty sure you won all the games we played while at great grandmother's house.

Know we love you little girl and can hardly wait to come for a visit.

Your Diva 

Your Diva should  always make you feel she had been waiting to see just you all day and now her day is complete. ~ Marcy DeMaree 

Meet your cousin Emma.....I wrote this about you for your new baby cousin.

Meet your cousin Emma.....I wrote this about you for your new baby cousin.

 Beloved little girl....

Meet your cousin Emmalee Anne Bennetch.  Emma lives in Canada which is very far away (further than Diva and Poppa can drive) so we don't get to see her as often as we would like.  We always look forward to having her come visit us.

Last Christmas Emma and Auntie Beckie got to come and spend Christmas with us.  We all gathered in Tennessee at Auntie Suzy and Uncle Tim's home so Diva and Poppa had all of our grandchildren together for Christmas.  It was so much fun.  You will like cousin Emma.

Emma is 8 years old and in the second grade.  She loves school and loves to pick out colorful outfits  to wear.  She loves My Little Ponies and will teach you all about them.  Her favorite pony is Rainbow Dash and I am sure she will let you play with all of them.  She also likes the Equestria Girls (which are the ponies who  have turned into girls in another world , I know it confuses me too!)  There are cartoons all about the Ponies and I know she would love to share all her vast knowledge on Ponies with you.

Emma loves Halloween and loves to dress up in costumes just like her cousins and your Mommy and Daddy and all your Aunts and Uncles.  Last Halloween Emma chose to be a Mummy and celebrate the day of the dead.  I think she makes a cute Mummy.  As much as your parents (especially your Daddy) love Halloween I am wondering what your very first costume will look like.





Emma is a very active little girl.  This past winter she played ringette . This is her picture in all her skating gear.  It is played on ice and is kind of like hockey .  She scored many goals and also enjoy playing the goalie.  Emma has also played soccer and loves to swim, go to the park, roller skate and ride her bike.

  Emma loves music .  Taylor Swift and Katy Perry are some of her favorites.  Auntie Becky and Emma got to go to a Katy Perry concert this past summer when she was in Saskatoon.   Emma told me that Katy Perry's fans are called "Katy Kats" so that is why she is dressed as a cat.  Katy Perry also sings a song called , "You're going to hear me Roar."  Ask Mommy to sing it for you.

Emma also loves to dress up in princess dresses.  She loves dolls, sparkly clothes, games, reading, drawing, and crafts.  She loves to help cook and loves vegetables.  She likes working in the garden and also loves to camp out.  She likes science and went to space camp last year.


As you can see Emma has lots of interests and will be so happy to have a girl cousin to play with.  I hope you will always be friends and look forward to spending time with her and the boys.

Well, my darling baby girl I know you are anxious to meet the family but for now you need to grow and  develop into a strong healthy girl.  Know that we love you and pray for you every single day.

Your darling diva

Girl with Hot Pink Glasses

Dearest Emma....
    
  Today is the last day of winter and it looks like you are already for spring.  I love your new hot pink sassy glasses.  

I'm hoping that your new glasses will make your world come into view and give you sharper focus.  I'm sure the other team in Ringette hopes you leave your glasses at home whenever you play goalie.  I know you love to read and I am so hopeful that it will make reading so much easier for you.

Your sweet Momma loved to read.  The first big book she read was Charlotte's Web.  You will have to ask her about it.  I was afraid she would never want to read again.

Poppa and I are working on sending you and Momma some boxes filled with clothes and all kind of Diva goodies.  Know that you are loved more than words can express.


Miss you Bones!  

  XOXO.....Your Darling Diva

Quote on Grandma's

Grandmas are moms with lots of frosting. ~Author Unknown

What a bargain grandchildren are! I give them my loose change,
and they give me a million dollars' worth of pleasure. ~Gene Perret

Grandmothers are just "antique" little girls. ~Author Unknown

Perfect love sometimes does not come until the first grandchild.
~Welsh Proverb


-->A grandmother is a babysitter who watches the kids instead of the television. ~Author Unknown

Never have children, only grandchildren. ~Gore Vidal

Becoming a grandmother is wonderful. One moment you're just
a mother. The next you are all-wise and prehistoric. ~Pam Brown


Grandchildren don't stay young forever, which is good because
Pop-pops have only so many horsey rides in them. ~Gene Perret

When grandparents enter the door, discipline flies out the window.
~Ogden Nash

Grandma always made you feel she had been waiting to see just
you all day and now the day was complete. ~ Marcy DeMaree

---

Grandmas never run out of hugs or cookies. ~Author unknown

Grandmas hold our tiny hands for just a little while, but our
hearts forever. ~Author Unknown

If I had known how wonderful it would be to have grandchildren,
I'd have had them first. ~Lois Wyse

My Grand kids believe I'm the oldest thing in the world. And after
two or three hours with them, I believe it, too. ~Gene Perret

If becoming a grandmother was only a matter of choice, I should
advise every one of you straight away to becomeme one. There is
no fun for old people like it! ~Hannah Whithall Smith

It's such a grand thing to be a mother of a mother - that's why the
world calls her grandmother. ~Author Unknown

Grandchildren are God's way of compensating us for growing
old. ~Mary H. Waldrip

You do not really understand something unless you can explain
it to your grandmother. ~Proverb

An hour with your grandchildren can make you feel young again.
Anything longer than that, and you start to age quickly. ~Gene Perret

The best baby-sitters, of course, are the baby's grandparents. You
feel completely comfortable entrusting your baby to them for long
periods, which is why most grandparents flee to Florida. ~Dave Barry

I wish I had the energy that my grandchildren have - if only for
self-defense. ~Gene Perret

Grandmother-grandchild relationships are simple. Grandmas
are short on criticism and long on love. ~Author Unknown

Nobody can do for little children what grandparents do.
Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust over the lives of
little children. ~Alex HaleyGrandmother - a wonderful older mother with lots of
practice. ~Author Unknown


-->A grandparent is old on the outside but young onthe inside. ~Author Unknown

One of the most powerful handclasps is that of a new
grand baby around the finger of a grandfather. ~Joy Hargrove

It's amazing how grandparents seem so young once you
becomeme one. ~Author Unknown

If your baby is "beautiful and perfect, never cries or fusses,
sleeps on schedule and burps o n demand, an angel all the
time," you're the grandma. ~Teresa Bloomingdale


Grandparents are similar to a piece of string - handy to have
around and easily wrapped around the fingers of their
grandchildren. ~Author Unknown


-->What is it about grandparents that is so lovely? I'd like to say that grandparents are God's gifts to children. And if they can
but see, hear and feel what these people have to give, they
can mature at a fast rate. ~Bill Cosby

Grandchildren don't make a man feel old; it's the knowledge
that he's married to a grandmother. ~G. Norman Collie

Little known facts about Diva....my life as a skater

My dearest darling Emma,

     Your mom is so good at posting pictures of you in your ringette gear skating on the ice. I am very impressed with your ability not only to skate without falling down but your ability to shoot and score.  To date, you have played two games and scored in both.  How we wish we could have been there to cheer you on.

     I'm sure you get a lot of your athletic ability from your mom and your dad.  Unfortunately, you didn't inherit any of it from me.

     Diva was never very good at sports even though I played with great enthusiasm I usually played center bench or took care of the equipment while my friends were the star players.

When I was 8 years old one of my favorite past times was roller skating.  The picture below is the street skates I used, complete with a skate key to tighten up the clamps on my shoes.  The skate key was very important or else the skate fell off every time you picked up your foot.  I lost many skate keys growing up and had to get my dad to use a pair of pliers to adjust the clamps so I could skate.

Not only were the skates heavy and awkward but I learned to skate on the sidewalks outside our home in Abilene, Texas.  Our sidewalks were cracked and if you had any speed at all and hit the rough and uneven pavement a fall was the predictable outcome.  I don't remember how many times I fell but I usually had bruises, skinned knees and elbows, and lots of colorful band-aids to show for my skating adventures.             ( Remember this was long before knee and elbow pads and helmets.  So if occasionally Diva acts goofy it's probably from a childhood skating accident.)  Occasionally my parents would take pity on my injuries and take us skating at the local roller rink.

Ah.....the roller skating rink with a smooth wooden floor with lots of room to skate and shoe skates that they rented out.  Back in my day, it was 8-year-old heaven.  For my 8th birthday, my parents rented out the roller rink and had my birthday party there.  I was the most popular girl in school for that brief week.  I was able to invite all my classmates, Sunday School class friends, Brownie troop, neighbors, and friends. What could be better than shoe skates, birthday cake, presents, music to skate by as well as skating games and" couples only" skating time?  I skated with Jerry Cleveland my third-grade crush....he had braces, bright red hair cut in a crew cut, thick glasses, and was the smartest boy in my class.  (Yes, sweet Emma....your Diva was attracted to Nerds even back in the day.  Jerry was a math whiz and did my math homework for me. (But don't tell great grandmother--she just thought I got really smart in math in that year!) 

   I broke my arm roller skating.  It was the first of three broken wrists that I experienced in the first, second, and third grade.  My cousins used to say that "I was slippery", I think they meant that I was breakable.  It was my left wrist.  I was going too fast down an incline and couldn't stop myself from hitting a parked car.  I used my left hand to try and stop myself but it bent backward and I heard it snap.  I wore a cast on it for 6 weeks.

In high school, I used to watch Roller Derby on TV.  The girls skated on a banked track and it was really a physical contact sport.  My friends always laughed at me that I enjoyed watching it and called me the Roller Derby Queen.  I actually got to go to a game in Norfolk and meet one of my heroes...Joan Westin of the Bay City Bombers.  I laughed when your mom told me she was interested in skating with the Roller Derby in Saskatoon.

  Who knows maybe your mom will fulfill one of my long lost dreams and be a roller derby queen.

As I write this for you today I want you to know how excited we are to see you play soccer, skate, dance, write and create.  Poppa and I love you very much and pray for your every single day.  Know that you are always in my heart and in my thoughts.

Your Roller Derby Skating Queen......Diva

Happy Birthday to your Momma

 

Happy Birthday to our oldest child Rebekah.  I still remember holding you in my arms for the very first time and thanking God for being able to participate in a miracle.  I was amazed by your perfection and tenacity (it was long labor) but there you were perfect and complete and ready to change our lives forever.

You took 2 very inexperienced people and slowly shaped us into parents.  You knocked off our rough edges and taught us valuable life lessons.  You taught us how to improvise, how to function on very little sleep, how to love deeper than we ever knew we could.

You broke our hearts with your tears and made the day brighter with your baby laughter. (Still to this day baby laughter is the best sound in the whole world!)

You were the big sister to baby ZooZoo.  You were Mommy's little helper and quickly learned how to have an adoring audience with your siblings.  You were their protector, the instigator, the hero, and the villain all wrapped up in one.

What a miracle to watch you with your own daughter now.  You have grown into a very strong, independent woman with strong opinions and deep convictions.  I love how you encourage Emma to be a soccer player, princess, scientist, ballerina, ringette player, Brownie, and reader.  You are a great example of a strong, compassionate, knowledgeable woman and a wonderful role model for your daughter.

Wish we could be there to spoil you.   Love Momma

Missing my Emma Girl

Dear Sweet Emma... I'm missing you today as I looked at my refrigerator artwork you drew of our family this past December.  I love the smiles on all of our faces and that you are in the very center  of the picture.   What a lovely holiday we had with all our grandchildren together at Auntie Suzy and Uncle Tim's home in Tennessee.

Great Grandmother's Girl

Dear Emma,

I want you to know how special and dear you are to your great grandmother.  She asks about you every time I talk to her and she always says, "She is such a sweet girl."  

Great grandmother was so pleased you wanted to visit her this summer.  She was especially pleased that you liked playing Parcheesi as that is her favorite game.


She told me after you left that "I don't know why that child likes me, but I'm sure glad she does."

Great grandmother will be 88 on January 11th.  She and your cousin Henry share a birthday.  Great grandmother is blind in her left eye and has limited vision in her right eye.  She is very independent like you and very determined to live on her own. 

She was complaining about not being able to see very well and you gave her a big hug and said, "You might not be able to see very well but at least you are alive." 

You made me so pleased when you hugged her and said, "Great grandmother I like you very much."  I don't know if my mother heard that but I will never forget the love and kindness you showed her.

Thank you for wrapping her Christmas gifts for her to open at Christmas.  She really loves to see you dressed up in your new princess dress with a tiara.  You also made her a special Christmas card that she kept.

You make my Mom very happy to have such a sweet and loving great-granddaughter.  Thank you for taking the time to get to know my Momma and for loving her.

Poppa and I love you and pray for you every single day.

 
 Your Cheerleader ....Diva

Princess Day

Dear Princess Emma,

   Poppa and I arrived safely in Canada a couple of days before your Momma's Foot Surgery.  I found this princess dress for you and it fit you perfectly.  We were able to get groceries and pick up some needed supplies as well as get familiar with your teachers, school, and the hospital.

You and I went to a Mother's Day tea at your school.  You were amazing and a great server.  What a special treat for Diva to meet your teacher and your friends.

We were so glad to see your grandparents, John and Gladys Peters.  Your grandmother made the cool poncho that you are wearing.  We had not seen your grandparents in four years so it was fun to see them again and find out what they are doing since they retired.

Your Momma was amazing and healed very quickly.  She was very proficient on her crutches but was so glad to go to a boot and be able to walk again.  She will be so glad when she can run again.

Diva wanted a feather in her hair too.  Your sweet Momma put some in and I wore them proudly for 2 months.  It made me think of you and your Momma every time I combed my hair.

Poppa was Diva's hero.  He was able to drive all over Saskatoon and did not get lost  ( well not too much).  We made you homemade lasagna and you loved it.

We have such a great time with you.  We love you so much.

   Diva and Poppa

Can't wait to see you!

Dear Emma. ...We are on our way to the airport to come see you and your Momma.  We will be there late tonight.   I can hardly wait to see you.  We will have so much fun together.

We will get to go to your Mother's Day Tea Party at your school while Momma is recuperating from her foot surgery.

What fun we will have being Momma's nurses.  I want to see your school and meet your friends.

Save some giggles and hugs for me.  

Love you soo much my beautiful girl.  Keep me prayed up, you know Diva is not a good traveler like you.

See you soon!

Missing You

Dear Emma, Poppa and I were just talking about you and how much fun we had this past summer when you and your Momma came to visit. We are getting excited about our visit to Canada and our visit with you. Poppa is prepared to read you lots of stories and play lots of games. Diva is good at singing silly songs, puzzles, crafts, and of course baking (do you think you could help me?) We want to see your room, meet your friends and spend time with you doing the things you love to do. We will be there in just a couple of weeks. We pray for you every day and send you virtual hugs and kisses. Missing you more than hot Krispy Kreme Donuts Your Diva and Poppa